Breathing The Same Air
by Cadela
Summary: Old... and weird... It's... Daikeru! This isn't any hardcore yaoi or anything... just involves a backrub and a makeout sesh.


The blonde boy sat on the bus, silently watching the scenery pass by. He had a big floppy white hat on his head, almost covering his blue eyes. Even though the bus was crowded and noise and the seat next to him was occupied, he felt as though he were alone.

Casting a glance to the kid occupying the seat next to him, he briefly smirked. It seemed he was looking at his exact opposite as he studied his companion.

The boy next to him was Motomiya Daisuke, who was dark toned with eyes that were a deep brown, matching his hair, which was reddish-brown in colour. Even his clothes were different. Whereas the former was wearing blue jeans and a white t-shirt, the latter was wearing dark green khakis and a deep blue sweatshirt. There was a size difference, too – Daisuke's clothes were slightly baggy and over-sized, but not so much that he'd appear to have just come from the ghetto.

Daisuke caught himself being eyed and turned a glare to the fairer-skinned boy. Jerking the headphones from his ears, he hissed, "I just want you to know that I'm only sitting next to you because all of the other seats were taken, Takeru." With a sneer, Daisuke put the headphones back on and turned up the volume on his portable mp3 player.

Takeru sighed loudly, knowing Daisuke couldn't hear him. This weekend was going to be terrible.

The two boys were 14, and their ecology class was taking a weekend long camping trip. Three days long, and Daisuke was already setting in on him. 'If we don't come to blows by the end of this trip, it'll be a bloody miracle,' TK thought to himself, turning back to the window.

There was a long pause between the two before Daisuke took the headphones off again, settling them around his neck and massaging his temples with his fingers. "Sorry," he finally mumbled.

"What?" Takeru's jaw dropped.

"I said sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that and stuff. I don't feel so good, okay? So I'm sorry." Fixing the other with a deep glower, Daisuke waited for a response.

"Umm... That's okay. I understand. No harm done," Takeru shrugged gently. There was another pause before he attempted to start up a conversation. "So, uh... what are you listening to?"

"Lots of different stuff. Ayumi Hamasaki, Hikaru Utada, Hayashibara, Siam Shade, The Brilliant Green, Aiko, GLOBE..." Daisuke was ticking artists off on his fingers, then waved his hand dismissively. "Lots of stuff."

"Megumi Hayashibara is a goddess," TK mused. "She sings like... like... a goddess."

"No way. Ayumi is where it's at. She's cuter, too."

"What? Cuter? That's insane. Megumi is a complete hottie."

Daisuke started to respond, then blinked and realized who he was talking with. Looking a little disgusted with himself, he just shook his head and put the headphones back on.

With another loud sigh, Takeru turned back to the window. There wasn't any chance of them getting along, even remotely.

The bus turned into the campgrounds as night was falling, and Daisuke wasted no time in getting as far away from Takeru as he could. Unfortunately, that also meant he was away from everyone else.

Sitting on the top of a park bench, he leaned forwards and rested his elbows on his knees, glaring at the group of other kids. "Stupid TK. He's so perfect. Just look at him, everyone loves him. I don't know why he even bothers talking to me at all. He probably just pities me. Well, good, because _I_ pity _him_. Loser."

He bit his lip angrily, hard enough to make it start to bleed. The blood ran down his chin, leaving a cold trail behind it. Swiping it away with the back of his hand, Daisuke slumped forward, dropping his chin on his arms. He'd never admit it, not even to himself, but there was nothing more he wanted than to be popular like Takeru was. Then he'd have all the girls, all the friends, and anything he wanted. Including Hikari.

The camp counselor was talking about pairing up. 'Ugh. They still treat us like we're in grade school. How juvenile,' Daisuke rolled his eyes, then realized he'd have to pair up with one of... _those_ kids.

The ecology class was made up entirely of popular kids, kids like Takeru. None of them liked Daisuke, and he didn't like any of them. And now he'd have to "buddy up" with one of them. 'Ugh,' he thought again, groaning inwardly.

Takeru was heading towards him now, looking annoyed and disappointed. "Daisuke, I guess we're paired up."

Raising one eyebrow, Daisuke smirked. "Yeah? What, the famous Takeru couldn't find anyone to partner with him?"

"Famous Takeru? What's _that_ supposed to mean?" TK blinked.

"You tell me," Daisuke shoved off of the park bench and started walking away. "Look. If there's no one left and I'm the last picked, that's fine. Whatever. But this still doesn't mean I'm going to breath the same air as you."

It wasn't that big of an insult, but it felt like Daisuke had slapped him. Takeru gritted his teeth and spat out, "You're just pissed off because no one likes you. That's not _my_ fault."

Daisuke stopped and turned around, fixing Takeru with a look of pure fury. "What did you just say?"

Takeru swallowed and briefly regretted saying it, but there was nothing he could do now but keep going. "I said no one likes you. That's so pathetic. Not even _Hikari_ likes you, and she likes _everyone._"

It was the wrong insult to throw out as Daisuke slowly started walking back to TK. "Is that a fact? I suppose you think she likes _you_ more than me. But you don't see me giving a flying flip about it – she's a slut anyway."

"Slut?!" Takeru hissed. "Where do you get off calling her that?"

"It's true. And the reason you're so angry is because you know it's true," he answered smugly, with an expression to match the contempt in his voice.

For a long moment, TK said nothing. Finally, he smiled sweetly. "Daisuke, you know what your problem is?"

"No, but I have a feeling you're going to tell me."

"Your problem is that you're so busy pretending you don't care what people think that you don't have time to realize that you really _do_ care what they think. And the truth is that they don't like you. At all. They hate you, and you can't stand that. And so you pretend to hate them back so it doesn't hurt as much. You call Hikari a slut because she thinks you're not worth the slime scrapped off the back of her shoes and..."

He was cut off as Daisuke flew into him, slamming the other boy roughly into the ground and pinning him there. "You bastard," he hissed, drawing back his arm and smashing his fist into Takeru's face roughly. "I'll kill you for that."

There was a moment where TK had no doubts he _would_ be killed, but the next moment they were being pulled apart by camp counselors and other students. Daisuke struggled against their grip for a moment, shooting death glares at Takeru before he stopped resisting and let himself be tugged away.

"Wow, TK, you must have really pissed him off," one of the kids commented.

Takeru didn't respond, and instead touched the skin over his eye gently. He was bleeding, and it stung. Someone handed him his hat and led him away to get cleaned up, but all he could think of was what was going to happen to Daisuke.

Daisuke was sitting in a room, all alone. He was shoved roughly into a hard plastic chair, growled at to stay put, and then left alone. So now he was sitting there, holding his hands between his knees to stop them from shaking. He regretted it now. There was blood on his fingers – Takeru's blood. Shivering, he tried to wipe it off on his khakis, but it was already dried on.

The door opened, and a tall man came in with Takeru behind him. Takeru noticed with a sigh that Daisuke was avoiding making eye contact, and sighed to himself as he sat down in a chair next to him.

The man was the camp director, and he sat down at a desk and leered at the two for a long moment before whirling on Daisuke. "What possessed you to launch yourself into TK and start attacking him?"

Daisuke, looking incredibly subdued, glanced up from the floor and met the director's gaze, then dropped his eyes back to the floor again. "I don't know."

Takeru said nothing.

The director sat back in his chair. "Well, boys, the counselors have talked about it, and we decided the best punishment for you is that you remain in the cabin at all times during the entire trip. No point in sending you home, at least not tonight. We'll see how tomorrow goes and decide then. You're both dismissed. This is your only warning, boys."

Takeru followed Daisuke out of the room, trying to decide what to say. Finally, the only thing he mustered up was, "I'm sorry. This is all my fault."

Daisuke whirled around, all the anger returning to his face. "Fat lot of good that does me now! Why didn't you say anything _before?_ Now the blame is all on me!"

Stepping back, Takeru blinked. "I... I don't know. I guess I didn't think it would help. I'll tell all the other kids the truth, Daisuke. I promise. Then no one will blame you."

Daisuke blew out an exasperated breath and turned away. "Of course you promise. You say that now. You'll make all the promises in the world now, but as soon as we're back with all of the other kids around us, you'll change your tone. You'll blame it all on me, call me vicious, insult me and make fun of me... take everything off yourself. You won't mention that you provoked me into it. That's how people like you are, TK. You're not fooling anyone, especially not me."

"People... like me?"

Daisuke turned to glare at him. "Yeah, people like you. People who have no idea about anyone outside of their own little super egos. You're just a perfect little angel, aren't you, TK? God forbid you ever do anything wrong. The world would crash and go to hell."

Blinking and stunned, Takeru watched as Daisuke stormed off towards the cabins.

The cabins roomed four, two sets of partners. Meaning Daisuke and Takeru were sharing one with two other kids. By the time TK caught up, Daisuke was already curled up in bed, the covers pulled over his head and his back to the rest of the room. The other two roomies gave questioning glances to Takeru, but he only shook his head and got ready for bed himself.

The next morning, Daisuke wouldn't so much as glance in Takeru's general direction. The rest of the camp left, and the two were stuck alone in the cabin under the threat that they would be checked on frequently.

Daisuke sat on the edge of his bed, staring mindlessly out the window. Takeru sat on the other side of the room, doing some homework he'd brought along. He was solving a math problem when he heard a sound. Glancing up, he realized Daisuke was huddled up and sobbing quietly. "Uh... Daisuke? Are you all right?"

Shaking his head, Daisuke started choking out words. "No one likes me. You said it yourself, no one likes me. Not even Hikari, not even you. And I don't like myself either."

Takeru dropped his notebook on the floor and crossed the room, sitting on the bed next to Daisuke. "That's not true. I didn't mean all of that."

"You may not have meant it, but it's true. I can see it in people's eyes, I can hear it in the way they talk to me. Hell, my own parents don't like me either."

Takeru chewed his lip thoughtfully, feeling very uncomfortable. The dark-skinned boy before him was bawling his heart out, and Takeru couldn't think of anything to say. He felt helpless and very stupid for not being able to comfort his friend, and his mind was racing as he desperately tried to help. "Dais... It's really..." Giving up, he sighed and placed his hands on Daisuke's shoulders, squeezing gently. "It's not as bad as all that," the words finally came to him. "And I do like you. You're just fighting it."

Daisuke shifted, letting Takeru rub his shoulders gently. "One in a million."

"So what? Doesn't that make any difference to you?" Takeru started rubbing his shoulders a little harder, noting that Daisuke was loosening up a little. 'So this is the trick to getting him to relax.'

"Umm, not really." Unconsciously arching his back, Daisuke hissed a little as Takeru moved down and started massaging into his lower back. "I mean, sort of but... erf. That's nice."

"Mm-hmm," Takeru nodded, leaning closer. "Sort of, but what?" he whispered, close to Daisuke's neck.

Shivering, Daisuke tilted his head to the side. "Um, sort of, but it's still only one person out of... I can't concentrate with you doing that me."

TK leaned back and frowned a little. "Do you want me to stop?"

"No. No, don't. Just don't expect me to say anything comprehensible."

Setting in again, TK pressed his thumbs into the base of Daisuke's shoulder blades. "You're tense."

"I know."

"Why?" Takeru started leaning forward again.

"Because... there's so much going on that I have to deal with, and I hate it all. And it makes me tense, as you just – guh!" Daisuke gasped as he felt something gentle on the side of his neck. A kiss, soft and short, but incredible. Jerking away from Takeru's hands, he blinked. "What the hell are you doing?"

Takeru blinked, looking innocent. "Er, I... don't know. I, I'm sorry. I just got carried away."

Daisuke blinked back, eyeing the other for a long moment before plopping down on the bed again. "I liked it."

"What?"

"Don't make me say it again! It was hard enough the first time," Daisuke snapped. "You heard me, I know you did."

Grinning evilly, Takeru raised an eyebrow. "No, I honestly didn't. Say it, Dais."

Sticking out his tongue, Daisuke glowered at the other for a moment. "I. Liked. It. There! You happy now?"

"Almost," Takeru mumbled, leaning forward and kissing Daisuke on the mouth.

This was something new. Daisuke's eyes widened and he almost pulled away, but Takeru wouldn't let him. For a moment there was a bit of awkwardness between them, and then Daisuke shut his eyes and enjoyed it.

It felt good, in all honesty. The way Takeru's soft lips felt against his, the way their breath mingled together as they parted. Daisuke smirked, opening his eyes and winking at an expectant Takeru. "You know, only yesterday I said I didn't want to breath the same air as you."

"Do you still feel that way?"

"I take it back," Daisuke lunged forwards, roughly kissing Takeru. The sensation was so novel, and he was loving it. He was hungry for more, pinning TK against the wall behind them.

"Oof," TK mumbled, reaching up and resuming his massage from the opposite side now, gently sliding off Daisuke's sweatshirt. His fingers danced gently along the other's skin, leaving the sweatshirt rolled down to the elbows. His backrub was more intense now that the heavy fabric wasn't in the way, and Daisuke growled with pleasure into their kiss as the others hands kneaded along the spine. The vibration was awesome and Takeru grinned.

"What on earth is going on here?"

Both boys froze and turned to the door, where a camp counselor was staring at them.

"Umm... we decided to... kiss and make up?"


End file.
